Most people know Churchill for its amazing polar bear viewing and Tundra Buggy adventures in October and November. But what a lot of people don’t know is that in July and August not only are there 3,000 beluga whales in the Churchill River, but there is still an opportunity to see polar bears on our summer Tundra Buggy adventures – just not in the numbers that you would see in autumn. Pair all this with witnessing brilliant colours of flora on the tundra, unique birding and wildlife viewing, Churchill is a very inspiring place to be in the summer months.
Take a look at some images that our summer Tundra Buggy Driver and Tundra Buggy Lodge Maintenance guru, Dave Allcorn, took during his summer months in Churchill in 2009:
At the end of January we blogged about FNA Interpretive Guide Hayley Shephard’s kayaking journey around South Georgia Island to raise awareness for the plight of the albatross. Hayley has been continuously blogging about her experience and it has been truly an inspiring adventure.
We checked into Hayley’s blog yesterday to learn that, due to a number of issues completely out of her control (unusually terrible weather, injuries to a crew person, a badly damaged kayak, and the unfortunate earthquake in Chile) that she will not be able to complete her original journey around all of South Georgia Island.
Although she won’t be able to obtain her original goal, her amazing adventure still continues. Hayley is currently paddling back into the Bay of Isles and kayaking along the (and we quote!) “absolutely mesmerizing, ‘cosmic mind blowing’ beach of Salisbury Plain” where she is in very good company with thousands of king penguins and fur seals. She will then venture to Prion Island and spend some time with her beloved Wandering Albatross. After this Hayley will spend the next days rounding the north tip of South Georgia for the remainder of her adventure.
All of us here are extremely proud of Hayley’s accomplishments to date and we continue to support her in this and the next grand adventure she plans for herself. We look forward to her film, book and many inspirational presentations, conversations and stories from her in the near future!
We encourage everyone who loves true adventure stories to check out Hayley’s blog and continue to read the rest of her inspiring journey.
We have an update from a story we posted on our blog in January about MTS rolling out cellular services to customers in Churchill. MTS Allstream has confirmed in an emailer sent out to its current clients that it will indeed be expanding its wireless network to eight new rural Manitoba communities in 2010 – including Churchill. New coverage to this area is slated to begin by mid-2010.
We have received a number of comments both on our blog and on our Facebook Fan Page stating both praise and criticism with this new services in the area. What are your thoughts now that cellular services in Churchill is pretty much a done deal?
A few months ago we blogged about hosting Ice Bear Project sculptor Mark Coreth in Churchill and how his life-sized ice sculptures of polar bears that symbolize the fragility of the Arctic were featured at the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen.
The Ice Bear project continues to be an important message and must be heard by everyone. PBI Species Expert Andrew Derocher has informed us that a new study coming out shortly in Biological Conservation will continue to illustrate major threats to polar bear reproduction (particularly in the Churchill population) if the sea ice trends and warming of the planet continue.
Mark’s latest Ice Bear sculpture was on display in Montreal this past weekend. Here are some images from this event.
According to recent studies, more grizzly bears are moving into the northern regions of Canada, with some even spotted in Wapusk National Park. In fact, a total of 9 grizzlies have been spotted in the past 14 years, with 4 spotted this summer alone. It still remains somewhat of a mystery as to why these grizzly bears are so far from their typical habitats, but experts figure it is more likely due to reduced hunting pressures than global warming.
The scientific community isn’t worrying too much about the fact that there will be an increase in grizzly-polar bear conflicts because if the trend in loss of ice and habitat for the northeastern corner of Manitoba continues, polar bears will not frequent Wapusk National Park in the future. This is because the polar bear population will follow Arctic sea ice as it retreats farther north and away from the region. This was further communicated by PBI Species Expert Andy Derochers in an article published by National Geographic.
Polar Bears International’s website has a great video illustration of the sea ice loss and temperature trends of the Arctic on their website. Click on the image below to see the video on their website.
After our visit to the Philadelphia Zoo, we travelled to New York City last Thursday to participate in the 2010 New York Times Travel Show. Little did we know a pretty big snowstorm awaited us! There was concern that the turnout for the show was going to be a lot less than previous years. However, on Saturday the snow stopped and the sun actually peeked through the clouds and we had one of the best turnouts yet! We greeted lots of eager travellers at our two booths and had a blast talking about not only our Authentic Arctic Experiences, but also about the much anticipated US/Canada Winter Olympic Men’s Hockey match up (that we’d later win of course!).
Check out some images of our time in New York City:
We are very excited to be partnering again with WWF-Canada to promote Earth Hour, an event that takes place on March 27, 2010 at 8:30 pmwhere hundreds of millions of people around the world will turn off their lights for an hour to demand action on climate change.
This year, Earth Hour has a new contest where people can upload a photo essay or video to tell WWF-Canada what steps they are taking for the planet – big or small. Once uploaded, they are entered to win a trip for two to see polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba with us – Frontiers North!
We continuously blogged about our 2009 Earth Hour contest winner and we are looking forward to supporting the event again by hosting our excited 2010 winners up in Churchill. We are also supporting the cause by turning off our own office lights on Friday, March 26 for an entire day to do our part to raise awareness for Earth Hour.
Here is our video Blog from the North of our 2009 Earth Hour winner’s trip to Churchill and other promotional Earth Hour videos:
As we mention in our previous blog, Robert Buchanan of PBI has been awarded the George B. Rabb Conservation Medal from the Chicago Zoological Society (CZS). He will receive his award and be honored at the CZS’s Annual Conservation Dinner on March 2, 2010 in Chicago. You can support the CZS and its conservation efforts around the globe by attending the 2010 Conservation Dinner. Tickets are $150 and can be ordered by calling 708-688-8390.
Below is a great video that the CZS created to tell the story of Robert and his wonderful work with PBI. Congrats again Robert!
Churchill, Manitoba was featured again on NBC as part of their primetime Winter Olympics coverage. One of our dogsledding adventure partners, Blue Sky Expeditions, were featured Wednesday night. What makes their story so special is that they are the proud owners of a blind sled dog. Watch the inspirational video below!
In between the Boston Globe and the New York Times Travel Shows, we had the opportunity to visit Philadelphia and meet with our good friends at the Philadelphia Zoo yesterday. We have a great relationship with many zoos across the United States and partner with them to host zoo tour groups in Churchill to further educate them on polar bears in their natural environment and the effects they face from climate change.
Kristen, the director of education for the Philadelphia Zoo, took us on a cool tour of the facility. Our favourite was the polar bear exhibit but we may be a bit biased! Check out some of the images of our morning adventure.
